


i think i might

by dandy_lioness



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Barista Harry, F/M, Hair stylist Harry, Harry helps louis, Librarian Louis, M/M, Mutual Pining, Probably lots of fluff, Some angst, he literally cuts louis' hair, smiling kisses, yoga with lux
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2018-08-23 07:58:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8320036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dandy_lioness/pseuds/dandy_lioness
Summary: so, louis is a comfortable librarian with a desk plant, and one time he met harry while taking the twins trick-or-treating. then he meets him again and again. thankfully.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello. i'm completely clueless to how this is going to go. no plots. just going with the flow. and this is my first story so please forgive me in advance if this turns into a disaster or if the updates are awefully irregular. i just wanted to write about a library romance and harry being a beautician. and louis in sweaters. 
> 
> obviously i do not own anyone from one direction, and this is a work of complete fiction, at least in this dimension. fairy tales.

“louis, is that you?” he had just shut the door to his mother and dan’s house. it wasn’t the one he grew up in. it wasn’t the same but it felt like home, defined by the mismatch array of toddler shoes lying by the back door, and the thrown blanket across the arm of the sofa, and the tv playing spongebob squarepants in the background. it wasn’t the same, but it wasn’t much different. 

he had promised his mother that he would do it. that he would take ernest and doris trick-or-treating. halloween having fallen on a friday night made his mom and dan’s last minute arrangements reasonable. as well as lottie’s, felicite’s, and the other twin’s as well. he supposed. liam had invited him to a party, and yes he probably deserved it, to go out and do something besides his usual modest, homestead weekends, but louis, would rather stay home, eat bite-size snickers, and watch hocus pocus. essentially. he didn’t have a costume anyway. and if that wasn’t a good enough excuse, well, he always had ways to get out of doing whatever it was concerning liam and larger groups of other people. he loved liam, don’t misunderstand him, but he loved quiet, and liam did not. so he always had an excuse. he told liam that he had promised his mom, and so he arrived to the deakin’s household promptly at 5:30. 

“yeah mom. are the twins ready?”

“yeah we’ll be right down.”

doris was the first down. a 3-foot cupcake. 

“not bad, dor.”

“ernest looks like peter pan!” doris blurted while grabbing louis’ hands.

it was impossible to pick her up because of her costume, and he told her as much while she tried to climb up his legs.

“dor, you’re gonna ruin your costume, love.”

with perfect timing, johannah had came downstairs with ernest trailing behind. his siblings never listened to him. he was a push-over. that was why. 

“doris, get off of louis, please. go get your bucket.” his mother’s voice was exhausted. she needed the night off. 

doris and ernest had bounded off together towards the kitchen.

“thanks for tonight, louis.”

“yeah, no problem.”

“don’t let them eat too much candy.”

“no, of course not, mom.” he said it with sarcasm and a roll of his eyes. as if they would listen, louis thought.

“i’m serious, lou.”

“you know they never listen to me.”

the kids were racing back into the kitchen. louis assumed that keeping them from candy tonight would not make much difference from the excitement radiating from them now. they both ran up to jo and kissed her goodbye. 

“please listen to your brother tonight. please.” his mother pleaded while fixing ernest’s hat. her earrings were dangling from her right hand as she did. 

there was a unanimous but non-committed “yes ma’am” from both children before they began running to the door. 

“louis, the candy, not too much alright?” johannah called out from the kitchen. she was putting on her earrings. louis was getting exhausted just by watching her run around. 

“yes, yes. obviously. love you. bye.”

“we’ll be home probably by ten.”

“okay. okay.” and then he shut the door, and by the time he turned around, the twins were already at the end of the driveway. they weren’t in capable hands, that was apparent. 

 

 

An hour into trick-or-treating, the twins bucket were halfway full, so he thought they would be satisfied with their loot and ready to go back home. it was dark already. louis himself had been scared at least one time, admittedly. doris and ernest laughed at his expense. 

“alright, you guys. you ready to head back?”

both began pouting, to which louis quickly succumbed. 

“okay, listen. we’ll go to three more houses, three, and then we can go home, get the jeep and then we’ll get a happy meal, yeah?” 

“okay.”

doris answered for them both. 

the last house they went to was decorated on the friendly side of halloween. smiling jack-o-lanterns. happy ghosts. he expected a middle-aged mom, an elderly couple maybe. not the james bay version of a guy who opened the door. fedora. long hair. grey shirt. dark jeans. louis felt like he was looking at a mountain to be hiked on a cool, foggy morning. it felt ethereal. he was caught off guard. 

by the looks of it, so was the boy apparently. 

“trick-or-treat.” the twins sang out together. 

“uh..” the boy blinked from the children to louis. louis was smiling, but the boy seemed to wither. but looking back down at the children, he quickly placed the smile back on. 

“well, look at here. you look tasty!” he said it jokingly, but it made louis breathe out a laugh from his nose.

“and what kind of cupcake are you?”

doris was the bold twin.

“sprinkles!”

“and who are you?”

ernest looked at doris timidly. he was holding louis’ hand. 

“he’s peter pan.”

the boy was leaning down, almost to eye-level to listen to the twins. he placed his hands on his knees to steady his hands as he spoke. 

“oh that’s really cool! can you fly?” 

louis watched back forth between the twins and the boy, then settled his eyes on the twins as a finalized move. he felt self-conscious almost, because he wasn’t blind. attractive people made him nervous. when he heard the boy speak again he looked up.

“and what are you supposed to be?”

all louis could do was smile, blink, and stutter out a “hmm?” before doris began explaining. 

“that’s my brother.”

the boy smiled at louis for a moment and then turned his attention back to kids and sighed. 

“well, you guys look amazing, but, i umm, i’ve just ran out of candy, and i was just about to run out and get some more, but uhh, you rang.”

louis could see the embarrassment in his smile. he felt shy himself, but he knew where this was going. and he wanted to say something before doris did. 

“oh okay. that’s fine. like they have plenty.” louis stammered out. 

louis was nervous smiling now. 

“i mean my mom, we have some fruit, like i just bought some apples that you can have.”

“oh no they’ll be fine.”

“they aren’t poisoned. i swear. even if it’s halloween.”

they were both nervous laughing by now. the boy was twisting the doorknob. he probably hadn’t noticed, louis thought. 

“no, for real. they have a lot already so it’s okay i promise.”

ernest just stood and watched. doris seemed scandalized. hoping to relieve the boy from guilt, louis spoke up. 

“hey, he ran out of candy, okay so, umm, say thank you.”

“for what?” doris questioned, eyes knotted. she was going to pout if he didn’t leave soon. 

the boy laughed out loud at the little girl.

“dor! oh my god, i’m so sorry.” louis looked from doris to the boy. 

“no, i’m sorry. for real.” the boy replied. he was still smiling and louis could hear it in his voice. 

“yeah, well umm, thank you. have a goodnight. happy halloween.” louis rushed out, grabbing the twin’s hands. his face had already gained a considerable flush as a result of doris brashness and the boy’s smirk. 

“thanks. you too.”

louis smiled, turned around, let his smile drop immediately, and put his right hand over his right eye and rubbed. had the boy been flirting with him? not possible, probably. this was why he didn’t do things. louis had this tendency of hoping. like maybe this guy found him attractive and they would meet each other again with all fortune he didn’t usually have and there would be a future romance. he did this often with people he met. it all quickly went through his mind, 2 minutes tops, so that by the time he made it to bed at night, it would be washed out, because there was no way. there always no way for him. it appeared that way at least. he always tipped towards people who never returned the sentiment. to love and to be loved back, would be nice, yeah? he was 24. never had a boyfriend. he looked basic. had a little tummy. he was happy but mostly kept his lips tight out in public. not on purpose though, it was just his face. and he had never kissed anyone, that didn’t belong to the tomlinson-deakin crew. but you never know. maybe. 

louis was already dragging doris down the sidewalk. ernest was following. 

the boy seemed to take it all in stride. and louis couldn’t help but keep looking back to the house, and wonder why didn’t he grow up in this neighborhood. he just wanted to know his name. but louis was timorous. and the boy was confident, apparently. opening a door when he already knew he had nothing to give. louis would have turned the lights out. 

“alright, we’re just gonna head home, remember.”

“i thought we were going to mcdonalds.”

“umm. yeah. sorry.”

 

after making them eat all their food before getting the toy, louis took the twins home. he let them choose five pieces of their favorite candy to eat before bed, and by the time his mom and dan returned home he had them in bed, hoping they were asleep by now. 

“how were they?”

“you already know, everyone thinks they’re cute.”

louis feigned rolling his eyes. he knew they were adorable. 

“yeah, they used to say the same thing about you.”

“oh, thanks a lot mom.”

“oh, you’re handsome now, lou.”

“okay, mom.”

“okay, louis.”

dan walked in the room.

“hey, louis. how was it?”

“they did pretty well.”

suddenly he remembered the boy. their last stop.

“there was this one guy. the last house. he told them he didn’t have any candy.”

louis knew he was simply rambling, and knew that his mom and dan would listen to it as that, but he was fishing for a name. for anything. not that it would change anything. halloween happens only once a year. they weren’t a family that did neighborhood barbeques. he would probably never speak to him again. even if he did see him, he would probably never. just never. anything. 

“were they mad?”

oh nevermind. 

“you know dor.”

his mom turned back towards him. 

“are you working monday?”

“yeah. why?”

 

louis had taken two semesters off to decide. he had started a community college two years ago to make his mother happy, and but kept an undecided-major. just because. he was good at a lot of things, but nothing he was too passionate about. but his indecisiveness wasn’t a total loss. during his time in school he began working at a library. he loved reading always. prefered it over tv shows and the like. so perfect opportunity. and two years in, he stilled loved being there. mostly. loved the books. loved the people. not too fond of the higher-ups, but, sure the grass always looks greener somewhere else. but you wouldn’t believe the water bill. he had told his mom that when she suggested that he should find somewhere different, something with job security. he knew that was where she was headed.

“just wondering. you know i just worry, yeah?”

“okay?”

“are you still thinking about going back to school?”

“i don’t know mom.” he didn’t want to talk about this. she could tell, he knew that.

“alright. i was just asking.” 

louis waited a beat.

“i’m gonna go okay?” they both took a deep breath.

“alright, lou. love you.”

“love you, too.” 

“hey, lou, thanks for tonight.”

“you’re welcome,” and louis felt the tension leave. it was going to be okay probably. even if nothing changed.

 

 

***

 

it was monday morning when liza asked him.

“hey lou, did you apply for the bank?”

“uh. i just. i thought about it.”

“if i were as young as you…”

yes, liza, if you were young you would do it. i’ve heard. you’ve said that. quite often. and you would be so brave. right. but you are not and hindsight is what it is. 20/20 and made of crystal. 

he had no true hard feelings towards liza, just the question. liza was like a second mom, because anyone could make family out of anyone, and even those kind of family members worried about him. but this is how his mind always reacted to talks of change. he hated it. he hated thinking that one day he would regret growing comfortable somewhere. because he already had. 

because every day, this is where he sat. he had his faded burgundy chair, his worn, wooden desk, his black pen, his pink sticky notes, his hogwarts coffee cup, his sweater, his name tag, and his succulent. he had created an 8-hour home away from home for himself, and god knows, it wouldn’t be easy to leave. 

also, he had his only best friend as a co-worker, and he was heading his way with an armful of books with louis written all over them. niall came to the library seven months after he did with a character that did not fit with the librarian stereotype, but being loud and lazy more often than not still had not gotten him fired. 

from the beginning, they both vibed easily. louis was more shy and an opposites attract worked for them. niall forced louis to tell him stories to keep him entertained in the early morning hours of a quiet library. he had never thought of his life being interesting, but niall looked entertained well enough. so louis brought stories and carried half of niall’s workload, and niall brought breakfast from the cafe attached to the library, therefore the friendship worked. louis had always put in enough good words to the older librarians to keep niall around every time he edged on annoying, and the ladies adored louis so they kept him happy. they would always keep niall. 

so, of course he didn’t want to leave. he loved it here. he loved the people (except for mrs. christine. she was hard to like, nevertheless love, but louis did try. she hated when he did). he loved niall, but not like that. (he was too blonde) he loved the feeling here, the vibe. working in the library felt like you were always touching toes with something ethereal and spiritual. every morning when he opened it was so quiet, and no matter how often they cleaned the shelves, desks, and chairs, all the colors gave an illusion of dust. he loved the feeling of age that shrouded everything in a library. when sorting the shelves at the end of his shift, he would listen to music and he had decided there was no better stress reliever than hearing the slow heartbreak in kodaline’s “all i want” and arranging books to the dewey decimal system. sometimes he felt like crying. the pay wasn’t great but the feeling was untouchable. and don’t even get him started on the 70’s bathroom that had never been remodeled. the toad green dividers and dim lighting set his heart on fire. 

“so, are you going back to school then?” liza asked after turning to put away files in her bottom drawer. louis saw the things on her desk that reminded her of home too. the picture of her son framed in hearts. she apparently loved this placed too, being here twenty years already, so he didn’t understand the neediness in her voice when she inquired about his future. he wanted to be like her. to be somewhere a long time. to have seniority, and the slow pace comfortableness that allowed. the feeling that he could never make any mistakes. that he hadn’t made a mistake for sticking around so long. 

“are you trying to get rid of me, li?” louis asked smiling and shaking his head.

before liza could answer, niall spoke up loud enough for mrs. christine to squint her eyes at him. 

“they couldn’t get rid of you, brother. they love you. and if you go, i’d go and they could never live with that.”

liza scoffed. “we could never fire louis. never given us a reason. but you on the other hand.”

“oh please, liza you love me. you just brought me lunch on friday and-”

“no, mr. horan, that was for louis only, and you ate it anyway.” liza spoke up quickly slamming her drawer without any real malice behind it. she did probably like niall, but niall propped his feet on the desk too often. louis never did. 

“oh, i made him buy me lunch to replace it.” louis whispered. being around niall made everyone talk louder naturally, and he could feel mrs. christine side-eyeing them. he looked over to the stack of books that niall had brought over. 

“so, what are these niall?” louis asked passing his finger over the top book’s cover. 

“well, they’re only circulation books, and i would do it but, there isn’t anyone else running reference, you know.” it was an honest answer, but a lame excuse. niall knew that louis, liza, mrs. christine, and even mr. higgens in the back could handle the two scragglers that would only maybe approach the reference desk, yet, nevertheless, niall provided his “dedication-to-the-reference-desk” stories, and louis accepted them always with a fond smile, on his best days. there were days that he would rolls his eyes and sigh, and niall would take two hours to replace twenty-four books, but today was a good day, and louis wanted the peace that came with walking aisles of books. talks about his future made him anxious, and he needed to be calmed down. 

“yes, yes niall.” louis answered him with a tilt to his head and a smile, and moved the books to the end of the desk to be sensitized. god forbid a book sneak its way out of the library in a backpack. last time that happened, mrs. christine made him run down a middle-aged college student. it was an accident. in his two years, he had neither heard about, nor seen someone actually try to steal a book, but he did whatever it took to keep mrs. christine nearly satisfied. he brought her in a slice of pound cake every tuesday from the library cafe. forty percent of the time she would smile about it. 

“hey, you know what you want for supper tonight? because, i’m really craving italian.”  
niall asked while he slid his body over to the end of the counter where louis was. for louis, it was a miracle when niall came along, honestly. niall needed a flatmate and all louis needed was a reason and dan’s marriage to his mom was his reason. it gave him a guiltless opportunity to move out. his mom had already assured him that it was okay to move out, the she would be fine, “we’ll all be fine,” and she was probably right, but he knew she was serious with dan and vice versa and louis knew that one day he’d have his moment of freedom, so he just waited, and just waiting led to niall. 

“you know what, i was just thinking alfredo this morning. you wanna go out or order in?” 

“we can order in. giovanni’s.” niall answered, turning his face to the clicking steps he could hear coming from the library’s entrance. louis looked up from the last two books he was organizing on the cart, slotting his eyes in the same directions as nialls. he quickly looked down.

“yeah, that’s fine. i’m gonna head on up, okay?” louis rushed. niall was turning around with to give louis a smiling “thanks, mate,” but louis was already nearing the elevator with book cart. as soon as the doors opened, louis smoothly pushed the cart in and quickly pressed the button to close the door. he had only nine seconds to shake his head, have a little freak out, and say “what the heck,” before the doors dinged open on the second level. it was only a glance but louis was sure that the person walking into the library and possibly wandering around on the first floor was the same boy from friday night. he had worked here two years and had never seen him before, or at least he never had a memory of the boy before until now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay. louis misses harry. literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this chapter is a little baby one. again i don't own anyone in one direction nor do i own zayn. this pure fictional. enjoy.

louis usually found solace in replacing the books back on the shelves, but this time it was hectic. he was rushing. when he had turned to see who niall was looking at, he immediately recognized the hair and the presence of the boy. he practically speed-walked away from the desk before the boy approached it. it always took louis time to not be shy, particularly if attraction was involved. the first time he had a crush on a boy, he could barely make eye contact with him. it took him 4 weeks to even speak to him because he thought he would give himself away if he did, but it didn’t matter because in their first conversation, louis discovered he had a girlfriend. that was two years ago, and louis, in that particular area was still the same. which was why he was still standing in the literature aisles of the library. he wondered to himself why he was hiding. he was two years older and niall wanted him to find someone, although he never said so in those particular words, but he had played cupid so many times to get the point across. louis knew he could be brave. and god, why was he using the word brave? it wasn’t even that serious. it was just another human being that he had darted away from. and maybe it wasn’t the boy, after all. it was possible for there to be two boys with long hair and legs in the city, of course. louis picked up The Oxford Book of English Verse and put it back down on the cart. he did that three times before deciding that he would sneak down to the bottom level, walk around, pretend to look for lonely books stranded on random tables, maybe even go grab something out of his bag, maybe a piece of gum he was craving, just to know for sure. 

he had kept a close watch of the staircase while putting back the books, and louis knew it was quiet enough upstairs to hear someone coming up -- the boy had to still be downstairs. the only reason for people to come upstairs was the secludedness and silence it provided it. people only slept, made out, or crammed for exams upstairs. or in extreme cases, had diarrhea. louis moved the cart to the front of the aisle, and ambled towards the balcony overlooking the bottom floor. before reaching the stairs he looked around downstairs. if it was the boy, if, he at least wanted to find him first, and not the other way around. he only saw liza at her computer.

louis was stepping off the bottom stair, absentmindedly scratching behind his right ear, when niall opened the door to the break room. 

“-- yeah, anytime mate. it’s for anyone.” niall was in the middle of balancing his coffee cup and shutting the door while he spoke. 

louis only side-eyed over in his direction, concerning himself with looking around the reference areas and study rooms on the first floor. he saw a book lying on the table, and grabbed it to at least fake that he was being useful. he walked gently between the aisles of encyclopedias, looking between the cracks onto the next aisle. he paced around the computers, picking up scraps of notebook paper and candy wrappers, and essentially those were the only things he found. it was only 10:45, so the library was silent enough to hear niall tapping some beat with a pen against his leg as he stared at his computer. in his search, louis found an older man filling out an application, two girls studying on the couches in the corner, and a mother and child checking out the children section. louis had missed the maybe boy.

he stood in the last aisle of the reference area, gave the library one last glance over, bit his lip, and started walking towards the stairs. 

“of course,” louis whispered to himself while trudging up the stairs. he went back to his cart, and slowly put back the remaining books while listening to his music. that was the norm. he could live with that, and sometimes he believed that. he believed that he would be fine to walk alone and like it. he was fine being the only one not in a relationship. it was okay. it was okay. he told niall and liam that countless times. they had tried on so many separate occasions to get louis to come out with them. that was the only way he’d meet new people, they said. and he went sometimes, and no one really showed any real interest, not enough to leave a number or obviously flirt with him, and louis wondered what was the point then. niall and liam would always try to convince him that he was being chatted up, but louis would always shake his head, smile, and say “no,” but inside he was burning for it to be true and for the other person to be braver than him. it never happened though, and louis was used to it. he even told niall he was too selfish to have a boyfriend, that he had things he wanted to do on his own time, that he’d rather stay in and read a book than have to go out with someone. liza was standing close enough to him to object with a “louis, you are the least selfish person i know” and a “that would change anyway if you meet the right one,” but louis wasn’t convinced nevertheless. 

by the time he finished replacing the books and helped a student find anatomy books, it was louis and niall’s lunch break. mrs. christine was civil enough to give them a shared breaks. louis had just sat down at the back table when niall opened the door, cradling louis’ sandwhich under his arm in order to open his muffin wrapper. louis offered to pay for dinner if niall bought him a sandwich from the coffee shop. 

“thank you, love.” louis cheekily smiled up at niall, and grabbed his sandwich. 

niall tilted his head to the side and rolled his eyes. 

“yeah. yeah.” he already had a mouthful of muffin muffling his words. 

“when are you leaving today?” louis was unwrapping his sandwich. niall usually left before him.

“can you believe that witch is making me stay here until 5:30?” niall’s words were high pitched. louis flung his hand in front of his mouth to keep the food in as he snorted out a laugh. niall, although not the best employee, was so often babied by the staff that he had grown accustomed to leaving at 4. they could only endure so much time with him. 

it was only an extra hour and a half, but niall was a drama queen. 

“i get off at 3 today.” louis was smiling and looking down at his phone. he was looking up bread recipes for the persimmons that liza had brought in for him this morning. 

“you bastard.” niall said with feigned shock and wide eyes and took another bite of his muffin. louis gasped out a laugh, causing him to inhale a portion of his sandwich and to exhale a string of coughs. 

“i swear you’re trying to kill me, niall” louis sputtered around the coughs, trying to regain his composer. they were both laughing by now. after a while, they gave themselves a minute to calm back down. louis swallowed some of his tea, and niall squinted at him. 

“well, mr. tomlinson, since you’re getting off so early then you can go by and get some dinner.” niall was looking down at the crumbs his muffin had made. he was smirking. 

“oh absolutely not. we already agreed on italian and we were ordering in. and i already have errands to run.” louis stated indignantly. 

“oh and by errands, i guess you mean buying bananas for the flat, because that’s the only thing i remember you repeating this morning before we left.”

“no, and i wouldn’t need to buy them already if you didn’t eat two at a time.” louis glared at niall. it was shaded with fondness. 

“and i also found a recipe i want to make, and i don’t think we have baking soda. i couldn’t any last time.” louis took another bite of his sandwich. he thought maybe he should make a list. he also remembered he needed deodorant, and he wanted some orange juice. liza’s bottle from this morning was making him crave it now. 

“fine.” niall held out the word like a whine. he stood up to throw his trash away. 

“what are ya’ making?” niall asked when he sat down. 

“liza brought me some more fruit, and i was thinking a bread or cake maybe.”

they sat there quietly for about two minutes before niall looked up abruptly. 

“oh, um, they hired a replacement for josh.” at niall’s comment, louis looked up from his phone. niall’s eyebrows shot up twice, flirtatiously. niall had tried so hard to play matchmaker when he came along, but louis only wanted friendship. joshua seemed interested in what niall was offering, but louis wasn’t having it. he promised himself, he would never do anything he didn’t want to do, and he didn’t want a date with josh. yes, josh was at least bi, but not his type. josh, no offence, was a stereotypical gamer, and louis wanted long walks along the white cliffs of dover, thank you very much. josh would be okay. 

“at the cafe?” louis questioned. he remembered two weeks ago that josh had mentioned something about quitting, but the situation niall had put them two in -- louis having to nearly hurt josh’s feelings because he just didn’t want to go with him to see the lego movie -- had made things straddling on awkward every time they spoke to each other. this lead louis to only barely concentrate on what he was saying and majorly focus on getting out of the cafe as quickly as possible. he hated visiting the cafe on days that josh worked. well, now that would be no longer a problem. 

“yeah. i think angela said that he was about to start his internship. something like that. i think last wednesday was his last day.” 

“i didn’t even know he was in university.” louis stood up and walked to the bin. he saw that his mug was in the sink, but couldn’t remember using it. he would have washed it, not left it in the sink. he frowned down at it, and turned the tap on. 

“me neither.” niall was paying just enough attention to louis to answer him. he was looking at liam’s twitter pictures from the halloween party. 

“so, who’s the replacement?” louis was leaning over niall’s shoulder to look at the pictures as well. liam’s flat looked crowded in the pictures and louis sent up a silent thank you for having to babysit the twins. niall flicked to the next picture. it was of himself.

“oh my god, niall, you are so cute.” louis’ voice was high-pitched and silly. niall was dressed as a bumble bee. it was a last resort thing.

“yeah. your sister thought so too.” niall was teasing, but louis flicked his ear nevertheless.   
“whatever you’re thinking. no.” louis spoke out, shaking his head. he was going to have to speak to lottie. he didn’t even know she went to the party. 

“i’m only kidding, only kidding.” niall said as louis pulled a chair up beside him. louis was going to be a nosy brother while niall looked through the pictures. 

“she did say it though.” louis pinched him this time. there were only a few pictures left. lottie had at least picked a decent costume. elsa. her hair fit it naturally. 

their lunch break was almost over when louis swallowed the last bit of his tea. he remembered that niall had never answered him. 

“so who was the replacement?” louis asked while he was holding the door for niall.

“what?” niall was putting his phone in his back pocket. 

“the replacement for josh.”

“oh, oh yeah. um, some bloke. i think his tag said harry, or something like that.”

“harry.” louis said simply, nodding his head. 

“maybe. he was in here earlier. he was using our toaster. apparently the cafe doesn’t have one.” niall whispered. louis followed him back to the reference desk. 

“oh, i probably would have met him if i wasn’t upstairs doing someone else’s work.” louis tilted his head to the side and smiled at niall. before he sat down, niall pulled louis’ beanie down over his eyes. 

“i hate when you look condescendingly at me. and you hate meeting new people,” niall murmured. 

“condescendingly. i love it when you use big words.” louis fixed his hat back on his head, and patted niall cheek. niall swatted his hand away. 

when he turned around to walk back to the circulation desk, he noticed mrs. christine was already looking in their direction, shaking her head. he hoped silently that she would retire soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you've read this far, thank you so very much. you deserve all the cake and ice cream . you are beautiful.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this only took me like a year to post.

after his lunch break, louis took over the desk for mrs. christine and liza’s break. he had three check-ins to do from the outside drop-box, only taking about ten minutes to complete. god. he needed to waste time. maybe wipe down the shelves behind him. as louis walked from the counter towards the back wall, he sighed and bunched up his sleeves to his forearms. he fumbled around in the lower cabinets to find the wood polisher and rag.

he wasn’t exactly bored working there. yes, the lifestyle of a working librarian was passive. nothing overly exciting. there was the one time niall opened the door to the break room too quickly and caused liza to pour her coffee down her white button-up and to curse. they laugh about it still. even liza. but it was an everyday kind of job, so redundant, louis could nearly map it out minute by minute. at 1:30 liza would come back from lunch, and at 1:33 she would walk to the glass front doors and look out it with hands in her pocket. she only did it in the fall. he knew that maybe seven people approached the desk an hour, and at the end of each day he would help niall reshelve the reference area and lock up for the night. louis was appeased to live his life in organized plots.

he was swiping the rag around two astrology books, careful not to get any oily residue on the older books, when he overheard niall. niall was loud enough and far enough away for louis to realize that he was lucky mrs. christine was still at lunch. he continued to clean towards the back corners of the shelves but quickly looked between the shelves when he heard him yell out. louis could see niall turning with red cheeks and laughter to face someone he couldn’t see.

“it’s never quiet here, mate!” 

“not with you here, mate,” louis mumbled to himself, squeezing the rag in between the cracks of two books. louis tilted his head to the side to stretch and to be nosey. looking between the frame of the shelf and four smaller books, louis was met with the sight of niall talking to the very same guy he’d been trying to avoid.

someone could have kicked him in the chest. he would have never noticed the difference. he jerked his hand back from the shelf, simultaneously hitting his hand, dropping the rag, and cursing at himself all in one go. realizing that he may have caused attracted attention, he quickly squatted down, pretending to get the rag. it took a full minute to pick it up because this time he was sure that it was him, and louis wasn’t ready still.

“god.” louis grumbled out. he was brave this morning. he had at least talked himself up to bravery this morning, but now he was panicked all over again. heart beating in his ear. this morning he wanted to see the boy, but now he wanted to hide in the back archive room. he couldn’t go anywhere because neither liza nor mrs. christine had returned. louis turned around to the cabinet that held the cleaning supplies and placed the rag back inside quietly. before fully turning around to face the floor of the library, he secretly peeked over his shoulder. he was scared the boy would see him first. he didn’t know how to act if that happened. was he supposed to pretend that he didn’t remember him even if the boy appeared to remember him. what would he say if he had to speak first. they would stand in awkward silence unless the boy spoke up. louis had already made up his mind that he would pretend oblivion. 

he gave the floor over his shoulder one more quick glance and only saw one lady and niall. the coast being apparently clear, louis turned around cautiously. he didn’t have the faintest clue as to the whereabouts of the mystery boy, which left him awfully uneasy, but decided to sit at the counter anyway. it would be simple enough for him to duck behind the counter to grab the request folder without raising unwanted attention. he could also just tell niall to watch the desk and spend the remaining minutes of liza and mrs. christine’s break in the bathroom, but then he wouldn’t know whether the coast was clear or not. this was all just in case. 

louis climbed up on the stool in front of one of the computers and opened his pinterest feed. this was allowed because it wasn’t too busy, and sitting at the counter made it impossible to be blamed for ignoring patrons. plus, he had caught mrs. christine in the same position, and the one thing louis could give her, mrs. christine was no hypocrite. 

he split his time in between looking at the ten health benefits for coconut oil, watching the stairs, and glancing over the first floor. he heard the door to the break room open to his right, and heard liza’s laugh. he assumed that he was home free now, that they were coming back to the desk and he would spend the rest of his shift helping gabrielle in the back. he looked over at liza, and saw him walking beside her. the boy. he was looking down and smiling. he was talking with his hands, and the sun was hitting them from the windows. and no matter how many times it happened this way in films, time hadn’t slowed. realizing that fact, louis ungracefully slipped from the stool onto his knees,and began looking through the files in the lower cabinets. 

“louis! what are you doing?” mrs. christine's voice popped through the door before her body did. 

“a woman came in earlier…” louis trailed off when liza walked in. she never questioned what he did. realizing the boy had been walking with liza towards his direction, louis moved his head further into the cabinets.

“what did she want?” mrs. christine asked. louis hadn’t thought that she was paying attention. 

“uhhh...lost and found.” louis voice was muffled from the cabinet. 

“the lost and found is in the drawer.” liza chimed in. 

“yes, liza, i know.” louis was trying to not sound exasperated, but did nevertheless. 

“so..” louis knew this situation was worthy of mrs. christine’s sass, so he cut it off before it began. 

“so, i was looking under the counter because i couldn’t find it.” louis was rolling his eyes. he could still faintly hear niall talking to the boy, making him wonder how all of his co-workers knew him when he had only just met the boy the previous friday. how did he get close enough to them all to be awarded access into the break room. he wondered if mrs. christine liked him. 

“find what?” liza spoke softly over louis’ rummaging. she had the lost and found drawer opened and was looking around. this was why he liked liza. she helped.

“umm… a red...phone charger?” it came out as a question, but liza only hummed. 

“well, there’s one right here.” louis quickly looked up when he heard liza speak. of course he had dug himself a hole. 

“yeah, um, that wasn’t hers,” louis spoke as he sat back on his heels. he looked over at liza. her glasses were nearly off the bridge of her nose, and she was tapping the side of the drawer. 

“nobody ever comes back for this stuff. i think after two months we should just look through it, take what we want, and give the rest away.” liza looked over and smiled at louis before speaking up again. 

“and i think you’ll be first in line for this bandana. something to keep that hair out of your eyes.” liza was smirking and holding up a bandana with a dark floral design on it. louis leaned further back and dryly faked a laugh. 

mrs. christine cleared her throat, and liza cut her eyes towards her. 

“so you’ve got jokes now? you sound like my mom.” louis whispered.

liza shut the drawer, and walked over to louis. she pushed his hair off of his forehead and talked down to him. 

“i’m old enough to be your grandmother.”

“oh please.” louis stated matter- of- factly. before she could walk away, louis whispered her name.

“hey liza, is niall by himself?” liza looked up towards the reference desk and back down at louis. 

“yeah, why?” liza answered while walking back to her desk. 

“just wondering.” louis breathed, tapped his fist against his thigh. considering that the coast was clear he slowly stood up, peaking over the counter to be sure.

louis closed the cabinet door and turned his pinterest off of the screen just in time for a teenage boy to approach the counter. 

“good afternoon, you wanna check these out?” louis looked at the patron with a semi-fake smile. it was already 1:30, and the genuine happiness he brought in at 8 am was subsiding. it had nothing to do with the fact that again it was his fault for missing the boy. he didn’t know what he wanted. louis looked back at the screen of the computer, already placing the book's barcode under the scanner. 

“they’ll be due back on november 14th.” he stated as he walked the books over to the desensitizer. he ran the three books through robotically, and handed them back to the boy. 

“have a good day.” louis spoke to the boy who was already putting his earphones in his ears and walking towards the door. there was no returning response. 

louis walked back to his desk to work through the book request form files that liza placed there that morning. tapping his foot to an internal song, he lost consciousness of the counter or time as he typed in the information into the database, but an hour later, mrs. christine’s voice brought him back. she was walking back from the counter, and he felt uncomfortable. he knew she didn’t like dealing with patrons, and usually he protected them from her. 

“what time are you leaving?” she questioned. louis knew she knew what time he was leaving. 

“uhh, three.” louis said clearly regaining his bearings. conversations between him and mrs. christine always felt like a scolding, like he hadn’t been paying attention. like he hadn’t actually been doing his job. he quickly realized the cause of that feeling -- he had only an hour left and he had to reshelve still. liza was paying attention though and played mediator. 

“i can finish up the filing, louis, if you wanna head on up.” liza stated as she shut the drawer to her left in order to get up. 

“yeah, sure, thanks liza.” he gathered up the files and the books and handed them over to her. he heard mrs. christine make an exaggerated sigh, and he and liza shared a look. he smiled up at her, and liza fondly shook her head. she was wearing her gold flower earrings today, and as always, she was embellished in kindness. 

louis reorganized his desk before going upstairs, and to avoid further run-ins with mrs. christine, he grabbed his backpack and jacket and placed them in the space left on the bottom of the cart. before rolling all the way to the elevator, he walked over to reference and told niall that he would leave the remaining books for him to shelve upstairs, that he owed him one. when the doors closed to the elevator, he pulled out his phone to turn his music on and put in his ear buds. louis was convinced that reshelving books with music in your ears was profoundly therapeutic, so much that he almost did niall’s work for him again, but he noticed the time and knew that fifteen minutes would only allow for one more row, maybe. niall would have to do the bottom row which consisted mostly of children books. poor thing.

louis began pushing the cart over to the religious section which situated itself in the back of the top floor. it was a nice nook in the library for sleepy students, apparently because of the seclusion. the shelves blocked off the tables from the rest of the floors. louis rounded the side of the aisle, and god, was it too late. louis gasped quietly, as if he had been spooked. the boy was already looking at him, and louis tightened his grip on the handle of the cart. in that moment louis decided, he was going to play oblivious, so he deliberately smiled carelessly at the boy and faced the shelf unperturbed. that’s what he was aiming for at least. louis picked up the book and scanned the top shelf. he felt shy. he felt like he was being watched, actually, and his cheeks were reddening. he couldn’t even focus, realizing he had scanned the top row at least three times without actually reading the classification codes. louis looked back at the spine, then back at the top shelf, and made himself focus. finding the spot for the book, louis reached up on his tiptoes to put the book in, but he also heard the tell tale sound of the wooden chair sliding across the carpet. he settled his heels back to the floor, picked up a second book, and looked to his right, giving him a partial view of the library floor. he didn’t see him, until he faced the shelf. the boy was actually standing to his left, and louis looked at him, sure that his eyes were widened and giving everything away. he was still going to try to remain clueless. louis opened his mouth to ask if the boy needed help, but was beaten to it. 

“it is you, isn’t it?” the boy asked, eyes crinkled and mouth widened in a smirk. louis was speechless, and his ears felt red. he stared at the boy for at least two blinks because he didn’t know which answer to give. 

“uh, maybe, i mean, i--” louis trailed off with a wince and a scrunched nose. he was squeezing the book very tightly.

“yeah, from the other night. trick-or-treating. i didn’t have any candy, remember?” the boy explained himself excitedly, knocking his knuckle against the spines of the books to his left. louis couldn’t remember ever having someone excited to meet him a second time. he wasn’t going to reciprocate that excitement, though. apprehensive of the idea that he was overthinking this all. maybe the boy wasn't that excited. 

louis was simply going to recall that yes, it was him, and yes, he had just realized it.

“oh, oh yeah. you offered apples or something. yes.” louis nodded his head as he spoke with a simple smile. he looked down at the book in his hand, and began drumming his fingers on the back cover. although it had only been five seconds of a pause, it was enough time for louis to feel like an awkward silence was passing in between them. like the boy had meant for louis to say more. louis was grasping at straws. 

“they weren’t too upset, the twins.” louis spoke up. he began looking at the shelf again, recalling in the back of his mind that his shift was almost over. 

“oh that’s good...so um, you work here?” 

louis grabbed another book, and looked again at the boy. 

“um, yeah. i work downstairs in circulation. this is just part of the job. it’s the best part actually.”

louis thought he’d gave to much away. maybe he over-answered. and looking back down at the book he realized he’d need to move past the boy to put it on the shelf. he looked over the boy’s shoulder hoping he’d understand. 

“that’s sick,” the boy answered with a bobbing head. louis smiled. he’d have to ask him the boy to move.

“if you don’t mind, i kind of need to--” louis pointed to the shelf behind the boy. 

“oh. oh, yeah. yeah sorry.” the boy breathed out quickly. “you know, i’ll let you get back to work.”

louis felt elated, he supposed. he was already placing the book back on the shelf, and unconsciously was smiling to himself. but cooled it quickly when he heard the implied goodbye. 

“oh, okay. yeah, it was cool to meet you again,” louis turned to watch the boy to grab his bag and walk away. louis’ inner-monologue kicked in with an immediate “cool? who says that?”

the boy was smiling when he walked past the shelf and waved to louis. his legs were really long, and louis noticed. 

he turned back to the cart and decided that he’d only place one more book, when he heard books shuffling from the opposite of him. 

“hey,” the boy whispered over to him. louis peeked over the books and saw the boy one more time. 

“yep?” louis questioned with a head-tilt, raised eyebrows, and a quickly beating pulse. 

“my name’s harry, by the way.”

and there it was. his name. and louis could see that he was holding a book, probably so he could talk to him through the shelf, and he couldn’t understand how warm he felt. 

“oh, okay. i’m louis.” 

they were both smiling, but not at each other. harry was looking down, and louis could hear him tapping his fingernails on the book in his hands. 

“nice to meet you, louis. i’ll leave you alone for real this time.”

louis breathed out a laugh, and watched as harry covered his smile, placing the book back on the shelf. 

louis looked back at the cart, and started moving the other books to the top of the cart. his cheeks were starting to sincerely hurt, but he couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.

**Author's Note:**

> well, if you made it this far, thank you so, so much. leave whatever you'd like, it'd just be cool to know what you've thought. come find me on tumblr, maybe?  
> redfloralsuitharry is the name. again thank you.


End file.
